Thursday, May 11, 2006

To Flaunt or Not to Flaunt

Hundreds of Castro Valley High students protested with flags in front of the school Wednesday on what administrators had hoped would be a day of unity, but instead escalated into a clash of cultures bubbling with pride.

The protests, which took place throughout the day, swelled into a rally cry at lunchtime when a group of mainly white and Latino students began carrying American and Mexican flags in response to events at last Friday's Cinco de Mayo celebration. Friday's display threatened to erupt into a fight when two white students began flaunting their American flags.

OK, I have two problems with this.

First is the conflation of nationality and race. This is really getting old. Mexican is not a race. American is not a race. American does not equal white.

Second, I ask this question: can an American on American soil flaunt the American flag? The analogy that comes to mind is someone attending a home game. If I go to Cellular Field here in Chicago wearing my White Sox gear, I don't think it can possibly be considered flaunting. Now, if I show up in a Cubs hat, that is a different story. But, as a White Sox fan, I am in home territory and, therefore, cannot flaunt by wearing -- and wearing proudly -- my Sox jersey.

Remember this story from last month, about the temporary ban on displaying the American flag at Skyline High School in Longmont, Colorado?

Stumpf states that the American flag was not being "used as a symbol of cultural heritage," but rather as "a symbol of bigotry...and hostility."

So, folks, we've got the American flag being "brazenly waved," and used as "a symbol of bigotry...and hostility." The Mexican flags, however, being waved at American high schools -- not to mention at rallies in support of illegal aliens -- on American soil are "a symbol of cultural heritage."

Thank God political correctness leaves me colder than a naked Eskimo in January. Otherwise I wouldn't be able to say this:

You can't flaunt an American flag in America because YOU'RE IN AMERICA!